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Friday, February 21, 2014

Our First Ultrasound

First of all, I want to say thank you. After the announcement last week, we were OVERWHELMED with all of your comments, messages, emails, texts, phone calls, etc. From the bottoms for our hearts, thank you. Thank you for your excitement for us. Thank you for your support and encouragement. And most importantly, thank you for your prayers. We are so grateful and are blessed to call family and friends.

Yesterday we entered our 7th week. It's hard to believe that today it has been 3 weeks since we found out. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind. The past few weeks I have been counting down the days until our first ultrasound. While of course I was overjoyed to finally be pregnant after a two and a half year struggle, the initial shock of finding out quickly turned into worry and anxiety. While I knew I was pregnant, I didn't really feel any different besides being tired. I'm still on hormones, progesterone injections and an estrogen patch. After a few of our IUI attempts I was on progesterone pills during the two week waiting period and learned that fatigue is definitely a side effect for me from the progesterone. So while I could attribute the fatigue to the pregnancy, I could also blame it on the progesterone. So I knew for me it was really going to take seeing the image of the ultrasound for all of this to become real for me. Once I knew were pregnant and knew my hormones were rising appropriately, the questions in my mind turned to what will we see on ultrasound? Will things look normal? And most importantly, will there be a heartbeat? I have been very anxious the past few as I marked of the days on the calendar. Finally on Tuesday afternoon, we had our first ultrasound.

Again, our prayers were heard and answered when we saw the gestational sac and in the corner was our little peanut. Our baby. Little baby Slatery. And within that little peanut, the flicker of a beautiful heartbeat. The tears immediately started to fall...tears of joy and tears of relief. There it was. Proof that I have life growing inside me. I was overwhelmed with emotion and still am.

Hard to see but the black kidney bean shaped area is the gestational sac and the baby is the tiny dot on the right side.

My doctor did see some cysts on my ovaries, not surprising after IVF. It also explains some pain I've been having. Nothing to be concerned about really. The other finding on ultrasound that is of some concern was a small pocket of bleeding next to the gestational sac (a chorionic hematoma for all you medial professionals out there). My doctor said it's something he commonly sees. I have not have any spotting or bleeding yet which is good. It is just something he wants to monitor the next few weeks. If I do start bleeding though, he said he would put me on bed rest. He will have perform another ultrasound our tenth week but said that I can come in and have a nurse do a "reassurance" ultrasound anytime. After our ten week ultrasound, he will transfer my care to an obstetrician. While I had a feeling I would be referred to a high risk OB, he confirmed that I will be high risk. This is not because of infertility or IVF but because of my chronic pain issues and one of my medications. My doctor is referring me to a wonderful doctor and is in the process of scheduling my first appointment, which will probably be sometime around my 11th week.

In the meantime these next couple weeks I will continue my hormones and we will continue praying for healthy, normal development of our little peanut. Currently, baby Slatery is measuring 3/4 a centimeter so about the size of a pea. In development this week, hands and feet are starting to emerge from developing arms and legs. Again, besides being tired, I am feeling ok. No bad nausea or sickness yet, thank goodness.

As always thanks for your support and for following our journey! Till next time!